InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Case of Double Personality ❯ Menoumaru's Story ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: j0yrid3

Chapter XV: Menoumaru's Story

Kumiko was sitting on the bed, thinking about everything that had happened to her. Her normal life seemed so far away...and now she had a task to complete. If she didn't, Midoriko's soul would never achieve peace and she deserved peace more than everyone else.

A knock on the door disturbed her reflections and she spoke in a low voice:

”Come in.”

Menoumaru opened the door and took a bow, fixing her with his purple gaze.

“I asked you not to do that anymore! A “hello” is good enough!” she protested.

“Hello.” Came his reply as the demon smiled. “Lord Sesshoumaru is back and he requests to see you.”

“He's back!” she thought happily. The time he was away seemed like forever...

“Right now?” she asked.

The demon nodded, still looking at her in a strange way.

“Is something wrong?” she wanted to know.

“Nothing.” he answered. “Sesshoumaru-sama awaits you in the garden.”

Kumiko got up and followed Menoumaru out of the room. “So this means that I have to tell him about Rin's miko training?” she thought as they walked through the long

corridors. Midoriko's will was that Sesshoumaru had to be informed about this as soon as possible. It was imperative to her for the little girl to begin training and she understood why. Wandering through Midoriko's memories, she had seen the story of a little girl who possessed spiritual powers.

Midoriko was no more than a child herself at the time.

She was a year away from finishing miko training and at the tender age of thirteen, her teacher died, leaving her to be the village miko and fight all the attacking monsters. She did surprisingly well and with a determination of steel, the girl defended the village even better than the previous miko. A few months later, came her first deception. The village chief's daughter, little Aya, had what it took to become a miko. Her parents were very wealthy and they didn't want their only daughter to pursue such a dangerous path. The child was forbidden to undergo training. A few weeks later, she started to burst out power, unable to channel or control it. After the outbursts, she would faint and remain unconscious for days. Her parents realized the mistake they had made and called for the local miko to begin training Aya. However, Midoriko was away, exterminating youkai in another country. The little girl began to eat less every day and, by the time Midoriko returned, she looked like a skeleton. She was so pale that it seemed no blood ran through her body. The parents begged Midoriko to do something and she tried. She gave the child arrows and tried to teach her how to channel the energy through them. But it was too late, her powers were consuming her. The holy energy was her enemy now, eating away at her frail body. It could not be controlled and Midoriko saw the child withering before her eyes, until one day, she gave a small cry and collapsed in a burst of purple light. The miko had shed heavy tears then, blaming herself for the child's death. It wasn't until many years later that, in her travels, she had learned the truth as she encountered a very old miko.

“You bare a heavy burden, young one.” the old woman had said.

“All mikos do.” she answered.

“Your power is greater than any I have seen. Therefore, your burden is heavier.” the elderly miko explained.

“If my power is so great...” she started, her eyes flooding with tears “why couldn't I save her?” she continued in her mind.

“Tell me what ails you, young one and perhaps I can help.” The other miko said.

Midoriko opened her soul to the old woman, tears spilling over her face as she spoke about the child.

“I could not save her from herself.” she finished.

“The fault is not yours, but of the parents, who refused to do what had to be done.” the old priestess said. “Know this, young one. When a child shows signs of holy powers, the training must begin immediately. No time must be wasted, or else they will consume her and no one will be able to reverse their effect.”

“I didn't...This is new to me. Had I known, I would have trained Aya no matter what. My ignorance has lead to her death.” Midoriko spoke sadly.

“There are few who know this. Many little girls die this way, but their parents don't realize the true reason. “ the miko informed her.

“Why did you handle this alone? At such a young age, your teacher should be supervising you constantly.” the old woman asked, pinning her with her gaze.

“She died a few years ago. Since then, I have been the village miko.” Midoriko replied.

The old woman regarded her with pity.

“If you were able to sense the subtle aura of purifying energy in a small child, you have great power. I can see you aura, it shines like the sun. I can see clearly that a great destiny awaits you, young one. Do not blame yourself for the death of that child.”

“I won't let anyone else die.” she said to herself. “Thank you.” she added aloud, addressing the elderly priestess.

“That can't happen to Rin.” Kumiko thought as she entered the garden.

Sesshoumaru was standing on a bench, surrounded by flowers and his gaze was somewhere far away. She remained stunned for a moment, taking him in. In the sunlight, he seemed different. His hair was silver, his eyes were gold and his clothes were pure white. The angelic appearance was shattered when he turned to her and she felt the rise of his youki.

“Why do I have the feeling he's not gonna like this?” Kumiko said to herself, smiling at him.

“Hey!” she greeted him, taking a seat on the bench.

The taiyoukai decided to ignore the disrespectful way to greet a demon of his rank and instead allowed himself to enjoy seeing her.

“How are your wounds?” he asked.

“Much better! They don't hurt that much anymore and I think most of them have already closed up! I have to limp a little because of the one on my thigh, though. If I walk normally, it reopens.” she answered.

“Humans are so frail...” he thought.

“I have heard about the fight.” he said, looking into her eyes.

“Yeah...Midoriko took care of them.” she answered, lowering her gaze.

“Obviously.” came his cold reply.

“I'll pretend that I didn't hear that.” she said to herself bitterly.

“MidorikothinksRinshouldbeginmikotrainig!” she spoke quickly.

“What?” Sesshoumaru asked, the look on his face indicating that he really didn't understand.

“Midoriko thinks Rin should begin miko training.” she repeated in a defeated tone.

“Out of the question.” He answered in a frozen voice.

“You don't understand! She has to begin training!” Kumiko replied firmly.

“I will not repeat myself.” His tone was final.

Kumiko jumped to her feet, her gaze fixing him with a determination he had never seen before.

“I don't care what you say!” she shouted, pointing an accusing finger towards him.

The taiyoukai remained frozen in shock. He had never thought someone would oppose him in such a way, much less a human girl.

“I don't care what you say.” she repeated in a lower tone. “When Midoriko takes over, Rin will start training.”

Sesshoumaru got up slowly and looked down at the insolent creature. His stature was intimidating and his eyes, frozen and deadly, narrowed to slits.

“You presume to ignore my will?” He asked, his hands grabbing her wrists.

His grip was iron, she couldn't escape from it, but at the same time, he wasn't hurting her. “Yet.” she thought.

“Do you want her to die?” Kumiko shot, sustaining his gaze.

“Explain yourself.” The demon ordered.

“She has very strong spiritual powers. If she doesn't learn how to control them and fast, they will consume her.” The girl informed him in a high tone.

Sesshoumaru's grip on her wrists tightened and she didn't brake eye contact, decided to stand up to him no matter what.

The demon lord searched for any signs of a lie in her words and, regrettably, found none.

“She has courage, I'll give her that.” he thought, letting go of her wrists.

“Do as you please.” He said in an indifferent tone, turning away from her.

Kumiko sighed with relief, letting herself fall on the bench.

“Stubborn jerk.” she thought, looking after him with warm eyes. “So that's how it feels to look death in the eyes.” she continued in her mind, watching the sky with a smile on her face.

“You're really beautiful when you smile. Did you know that?” A male voice broke her apart from her happy thoughts, making her almost fall of the bench.

She turned her head to see Menoumaru standing next to her.

“Could you stop popping out of nowhere? You'll kill me one of these days!” she snapped, glaring at him. Although the fact that she was really angry about was that she didn't even notice his youki while thinking about Sesshoumaru.

“So that's how human women take compliments. I pity the men.” he said in an amused tone.

She blushed, only now realizing what he had said.

“Thank you. I would have thanked you sooner if you hadn't scared the crap out of me.”

“My apologies.” he spoke, his eyes finding hers.

They now had an orchid color, she noticed, wondering if his eyes changed into every possible shade of violet.

“So...I couldn't figure out what kind of demon you are.” She said, a little disturbed by the intensity of his gaze.

He smiled, flexing his fingers and she regarded his razor-sharp claws a bit frightened.

“Hmm...the way he acts...the fluid grace of his movements...it reminds me of a feline somehow.” she said to herself.

“Cat demon?” she tried.

“Ow...that hurt.” he replied in an offended tone.

“Cheetah, tiger, cougar?” The girl asked hopefully.

“No. But you got the feline part right.” he informed her.

Kumiko reviewed all the felines she knew of in her mind.

“Black panther!” she shouted triumphantly.

“No.” he shattered her enthusiasm.

“I give up!” she decided.

“Come. You haven't seen the entire garden.” He said, getting up and offering her a hand.

She accepted it and followed him into the flowers, inhaling their beautiful scent.

“Blue panther.” He said suddenly.

“Blue?” Kumiko went over everything she knew about panthers. Nope. Blue did not compute.

“Yes. I am the last of my kind.” He explained as they walked past the spring.

That made her feel somewhat sad and she kept walking by his side in silence for a while.

The pavilion she had discovered the other night rose from the lake's waters and it seemed so different in the sunlight. It seemed normal, like all the other pavilions, but she knew it was one of a kind.

“What about you?” he broke the silence.

“What about me?” she asked, starting to feel a little uneasy.

“There's something strange about you.” he stated. “That time when you fought, your aura was strong.”

“Yeah, when I fight it...”

“And now, it's even stronger. Why?” He cut her off.

She remained dumbstruck and looked at him disbelievingly. “My aura stronger that Midoriko's? Yeah, right!” she thought.

“You're imagining things.” she informed him.

“You're just avoiding the answer.” he replied, looking straight into her eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a clawed finger touched her lips, making her stop.

”You don't have to tell me.” he said softly.

She lowered her eyes and remained silent. She wasn't going to lie to him and she couldn't tell him the truth, but she was grateful to him for being so understanding.

As they walked on, she noticed a giant statue, made out of white marble. It looked like a man and his style of dressing resembled Sesshoumaru's. Actually he looked somewhat like Sesshoumaru, only his long hair wasn't loose, but in a pony-tail and he only had one pair of stripes on his face.

“Who's that?” she wanted to know.

“That is Inu no Taisho, Sesshoumaru-sama's father.” Menoumaru answered, looking at the statue as well.

Kumiko could have sworn that she saw a spark of admiration and regret in his eyes as he looked at Sesshoumaru's father.

“He looks great.” she thought aloud. That earned her a sardonic smile on behalf of Menoumaru and she blushed, realizing that he heard her.

“The statue I mean, it's great...” she tried to fix it.

“Right.” he said, still smiling.

The conversation seemed to be going down the wrong path and she quickly changed the subject:

“So, how long have you been here?”

”It seems like forever, but it's only been about a hundred years.” he answered thoughtfully.

She suddenly tripped on something, managing to regain her balance at the last moment.

“It is forever.” she said, getting over the initial shock.

“To a human maybe, but it's a rather short time for a youkai. I met Sesshoumaru-sama when the Black Panther demon tribe attacked the inu youkai.” he started, looking into the distance.

“The panther tribes don't get along with each other so my father decided to join Inu no Taisho against the black panthers. I also fought in that battle, along side with Sesshoumaru-sama. He is an extraordinary warrior as was his father, but the black panthers were not bad either. Eventually we won and they left the Western Lands.

Unfortunately my father and younger brother lost their lives in the battle. Inu no Taisho asked me to stay at his palace and I accepted, since I had no one to return to anyway.” He stopped for a moment and looked at the statue again.

“When he died, I mourned him like my own father.” he continued.

Kumiko placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him and looked up at the statue.

“I'm sure Sesshoumaru was devastated too.” she said in a low voice, wishing she could comfort him as she did Menoumaru.

“Sesshoumaru-sama didn't shed one tear. That surprised me too at the time.” he spoke, turning to her. “He kept the pain locked inside of him and showed no emotion.”

“That's so like him...The idiot!” she thought, knitting her brows. “Doesn't he know that keeping sorrow and anger inside makes them worse?”

“I actually don't know why I told you all of this.” she heard Menoumaru's voice.

“Because it's good to let it out.” she said, smiling at him. “And anyway, we're friends, right?”

He looked at her with something akin to admiration in his violet eyes. She stood in the sunlight, smiling at him and for the first time since Inu no Taisho's death, he didn't feel alone.

“Right.” he answered.

“Now if you were human, I would play tag with you. But with your speed, it's out of the question.” she said in an amused tone.

“Tag?” he asked, seeming a bit confused.

“Oh, right. I run and you have to catch me.” she explained.

“Come on. I'll give you a head start and try to run very slow.” he said.

She started to laugh and ran off quickly, wishing she didn't have a huge wound on her thigh. That made running a bit difficult. But she didn't have fun in such a long time that it was worth it.

“Ah! No fair!” she yelled as a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her down into the soft layer of grass and flowers.

“I ran as slow as I could.” he defended himself.

“Hmph. Demons.” she said, turning her back on him with fake anger.

Menoumaru smiled and said nothing, taking in the sight of her showered by sun razes and surrounded by flowers as a strange spark shined in his eyes.

A/N: If anyone's still reading this...I'll update soon this time, I promise!